A Comfortable Routine
by May Eve
Summary: "Why did you decide to trust me?" "I didn't." Oneshot spin-off of SamanthaKathy's 'The Other End of Time'.


**Title**: Comfortable Routine  
**Author**: M.E.  
**Fandom**: Harry Potter  
**Summary**: "Why did you decide to trust me?" "I didn't." Oneshot spin-off of SamanthaKathy's 'The Other End of Time'.  
**Disclaimer**: Not mine.  
**Characters/Pairing**: Harry Potter, Severus Snape  
**Warnings**: This likely won't make a lot of sense if you haven't read the fic, which is very good. You should still be able to enjoy it, but please go and give 'The Other End of Time' a shot.  
**Rating**: PG  
**Word Count**: 645

.:.:.:.

Comfortable Routine

.:.:.:.

Harry settled in his favorite chair by the fire, taking a slow sip of his whiskey – proper whiskey, not that Firewhiskey nonsense Severus insisted on. Severus, too, settled in the opposite seat and sipped from his glass. The atmosphere was comfortable, the fire crackled warmly and the two of them had long since come to appreciate the silence.

Harry sighed contentedly as the burn of his drink slipped through his veins and he relaxed, boneless, into his chair. Severus glanced idly his way at the sound but did not comment beyond a twitch of his lips. As Harry watched, the man returned his gaze to his glass and languidly swirled the contents as though mesmerized.

Abruptly, he broke their comfortable silence with a question Harry hadn't expected, "Why did you decide to trust me?"

Harry blinked and raised an eyebrow. Severus continued when he didn't speak, "That day in your first year, when Hagrid had the dragon egg and the four of you came to me. Why did you decide to trust me?"

Harry looked away, understanding the curiosity and uncertain for a moment of how to respond. He swirled his own glass as he thought. The truth of his…history had come out, if only to a select few, many years ago. He had never spoken of the details much with Severus, simply because it was difficult enough for him to reconcile this man with his Professor Snape.

Besides that, he could not think of any good it would do the man to possess the knowledge of what he could and would do for the cause, what he might have sacrificed had Harry not changed things so distinctly. Harry glanced at the man again, to see him eyeing Harry patiently, clearly content to wait for his thoughts to gather.

Harry almost sighed again. He couldn't _not_ answer Severus when he asked him a question – not when the man had been so understanding of his request to respect that the past was in the past for the last twenty odd years.

Harry cleared his throat and spoke, quiet and distant, "The first time around, we didn't get along well at all," Severus raised an eyebrow at the seeming non sequitur. "I was a Gryffindor and the spitting image of my father," he cut his eyes sideways to catch the grimace that crossed the older man's face and smiled faintly.

"Truthfully, we hated one another. It didn't help that Dumbledore was constantly trying to throw us together in the worst ways," he ignored the again raised eyebrow at his uncharacteristic vagueness. He was not going to rehash all of the old wounds that came with Occlumency to satisfy the man's curiosity.

"To put it simply, we ran into each other several months after everything had gone to hell. You said the same thing then that you did that day, 'Trust me,' and I didn't. I shot a blasting curse at you and you never tried to contact me again."

Harry couldn't read the expression on the man's face as he took a breath and wasn't sure he wanted to, plowing on regardless, "It wasn't until years later that the truth came out and all I could do was wonder what would have been different if I _had_ trusted you." Harry turned slightly in his seat so he was facing Severus for the first time.

"When you asked me to trust you a second time, I realized I didn't want to wonder anymore," Harry shrugged a little self-consciously under Severus' continued attention and settled back into his chair. Eventually, Severus followed suit. Severus knew there was still much Harry would not tell him of his history and accepted that. He had come to trust the boy's judgment over their many years of acquaintance.

They each took another sip of their drinks, falling back into the routine of comfortable silence.

.:.:.:.


End file.
